Greetings, I am still new to online marketing and have most recently been reading about the success that Markus from PlentyofFish.com has been having with his site. He attributes his success to SEO implemented within his site. He studied what it was, implemented it, got ranked and is now #1 on google with Free online dating, Free dating sites, etc. I have a couple of questions if any expert can help me with. 1. What is SEO exactly? What site teaches about SEO in plain simple language so I could understand it better (with examples). 2. How is SEO used in PlentyofFish.com that makes it so successful. Any help would be greatly appreciate it. These forums rock. Glad I found them using google...SEO???
SEO = Search Engine Optimization or in simple words: Optimizing your website to be able to rank in the SERPs of the search engine(s) (mainly to rank on the FIRST page of the SERPs to obtain better traffic). Thats how one (or rather I) would explain in simple words SEO, but the techniques are a bit more complicated than the "simple words description" I gave. There is not ONE site that could teach you ALL about seo, rather you could lurk and digg on more sites to learn more ways how to apply the techniques (because the techniques are pretty much the same). I run a SEO blog where you can find some good informations about SEO, and as well there is a seo resources page (which now that I reminded myself needs to be updated). Hope this helps.
Hey, Thanks for your reply. I'll keep learning more about it. Curious how PlentyofFish got so high up in rank so fast using SOE. Lucky bastard!
On a side note: Supposedly, this guy makes about $5-$6 million a year from google ads according to the new york times. But.....how did he do it? Most likely he was very skilled with link building and link exchanges (or he paid for someone who was) as his site isn't based on content or "link baiting". If you look in the yahoo search engine using "site: (remove space) plentyoffish.com" it shows that he currently has 1,765 inbound links from other websites. Most likely these use the anchor text "free online dating" or other targeted variations that help him to rank for these in google. This is probably how he gets most of his traffic through link building and increasing his rank in the SERPS (search engine result pages). He may also get some from referring sites such as social bookmarking and myspace or facebook, but I would imagine he gets most from the search engines.
I would also recommend buying Aaron Wall's SEO Book. Whether you're a beginner or experienced, it is has been an invaluable resource for me.
He/she most likely traded links with other websites (via email contact), paid them for links, or hired a link builder/seo expert to do this for him.
SEO is very complicated at first, but if you can just stick to the basics, check all the small things and then keep consistently implementing proven techniques than you should do well. I used googles TOS to learn all about SEO, I also have used googlerankings.com Now I run an awesome SEO Site that all my clients are happy with and I have a 100% return rate with my clients. This is all because i took the time to learn everything about search engines, links, and google.....the biggest search engine out there. I wish you luck!
I don't think Markus participated in link exchanges or link purchases, plentyoffish ranks high for those terms because it's an authority for those terms. It might not be content rich in the traditional sense, but realistically it is. Plentyoffish is content rich in the sense that is has a high number of active users (I think markus purges inactive users every three months and he still has HEAPS.) That site is an authority when it comes to terms like that. I suggest you read aaron walls SEO book and then get reading some SEO blogs - but at the end of the day if you create good content and are active in the community you'll begin to rank well.
If you look on the bottom of his website he has sitewide links to other dating sites...so my guess is he does some combination of link exchanges and one way link building as part of the promotion and marketing of this particular site...
hmm.. the link backs from those sites at the bottom use the crappiest anchors. I would have expected something better than just Plenty of Fish Edit: I've just had a deeper look into his site and it looks like he has improved it so much better than a year ago when I was bagging him about faking his earnings. The adsense ads are perfectly placed! Loving it. And how bout the chicks he's got signed up! http://www.plentyoffish.com/member4190004.htm Also love the disclaimer: "We banish anyone who is ... unfit to date." hahaha. What does that mean? No disabled people allowed?